President-elect Trump has reportedly picked former Texas Governor Rick Perry to lead the Department of Energy.
During his time of governor, Perry, who succeeded 41st President George W. Bush as Texas’ top official in 2000, preached an “all-the-above” energy mix, including contributions from oil and gas, wind energy, carbon capture and storage technology, and nuclear power.
In a late Friday night vote, the Senate passed the Continuing Resolution (CR) to fund the government through April 28, 2017 by a vote of 62-34. The House passed the measure earlier in the week, and with the Senate’s passage, a government shutdown has been averted.
There was much uncertainty thrown into the CR at the last minute with Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) trying to halt the measure due to the lack of a full year’s extension of retired coal miners’ health benefits. Manchin was threatening to filibuster or convince 40 Senate Democrats to vote against cloture on the measure. That effort failed and the Senate passed cloture on Thursday. That vote added a new wrinkle in that cloture guarantees 30 hours of debate on legislation, and if the Senate Democrats were to exhaust the full 30 hours, then the Senate vote would not occur until 1 am on Saturday, December 10th, a full hour after the CR had expired.
Rather than risk that scenario, the Senate ended debate earlier, proceeded with, and passed the measure at 11 pm on Friday. It should be noted that the House recessed Thursday, and most House Members were back in the district, with little intention of returning, on Friday.
President Barack Obama is expected to sign the CR.
The stopgap measure, which took immediate effect, extends current funding levels for most federal agencies and abides by an annual cap on discretionary spending of $1.07 trillion for FY2017. It also provides extra money for military operations, flood relief, medical research and the effort to repair the lead-contaminated water system of Flint, MI.
With that, the House and Senate are expected to recess Sine Die in the coming week. They will convene in the 115th Congress.
Here’s a selection of articles the Federal Relations team is reading this week.
Ignored – House Democrats are in the midst of a post-election leadership expansion designed largely to amplify the voices of lawmakers in the heartland, where voters flocked to Donald Trump and propped up vulnerable Republicans down the ballot. But after a series of votes and appointments during the past few days, the party’s leadership structure remains tilted strongly in favor of the coasts, sparking criticism from Midwestern Democrats who feel their voices are too often ignored. Read more in The Hill.
Valley Goes to the Tower – During the election, Silicon Valley largely shunned the President-elect Trump and all he stood for. Now, the president-elect is summoning leaders of the biggest tech companies to New York for a round-table discussion. Read more in The New York Times.
Not Double Secret Probation – A regional accreditor has placed Baylor University on warning and the University of Louisville on probation for 12 months. Both sanctions typically require the institutions to correct their deficiencies and report back to the accrediting agency on their actions. Read more in The Chronicle.
Dreamer Pressure – President-elect Donald Trump will face bipartisan pressure not to revoke deportation relief for so-called “Dreamers,” undocumented immigrants whose parents brought them to U.S. as children. To date, more than 740,000 undocumented young people have been approved for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, a program created by the Obama administration in 2012. Trump has vowed to “immediately terminate the program,” but Democrats and some Republicans voiced concern about what might happen to the DACA recipients. Read more in The Wall Street Journal.
Pruitt – Trump’s pick for the EPA is staunchly against almost everything the EPA has done in the last eight years, and dismantling all that work is likely going to be harder than he thought. Read more in Vox.
Messy – There are a host of complicated business entanglements Trump’s family will face when he takes office. For example, Ivanka Trump was in the process of finalizing a deal with Japanese apparel giant Sanei when she sat in on her father’s meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Read more in The New York Times.
Dead Zone – Thousands of poor Americans are currently excluded from Obamacare because of politics, and it is tough physically and mentally being uninsured. Read more in The New York Times.
Yes, Eliza? – Researchers have recently found that more prisoners had changed their linguistic habits by the time they were released, the more likely they’d stay out of trouble. Read more in the Science of Us.
Capitol Christmas Tree – Ted Bechtol has been the Capitol’s official Christmas tree selector for 12 years, but he’s not in charge of picking one for his own house. Read more in WaPo.
By a vote of 94-5, the Senate passed HR 34, the 21st Century Cures Act by a vote of 94-5. The bill now goes to President Obama, who is expected to sign into law.
President-elect Donald Trump has picked Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, a frequent critic of the Obama Administration, to lead the Environmental Protection Agency.
Pruitt, 48, has emerged as a hero to conservative activists. He is one of a number of Republican attorneys general who have formed an alliance with some of the nation’s top energy producers to push back against the Obama regulatory agenda and has challenged many of President Barack Obama’s regulations. He helped lead the legal charge against the Clean Power Plan carbon rule, which he said tramples on states’ rights. A constitutional lawyer, Pruitt also led more than two dozen states in challenging the EPA’s Waters of the United States rule, which is now on hold waiting a court hearing date.